Mel Gibson has been granted permission to testify regarding a conversation he had with one of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers.
As asked by an attorney, the 66-year-old actor cannot be questioned on the witness about his earlier anti-Semitic remarks.
The judgments were delivered by Judge Lisa B. Lench on Friday, just before the “Braveheart” actor was scheduled to tell a jury about a chat he had with a masseuse, one of Weinstein’s most recent alleged victims to come forward against the disgraced Hollywood mogul.
At the beginning of Weinstein’s latest trial in Los Angeles, Gibson’s participation was contested by his defense attorneys. Weinstein is facing 11 allegations of sexual assault and rape.
They said that Gibson’s infamous anti-Semitic comments from 2006 and 2010 made him potentially biased towards Weinstein, a Jew.
Judge Lench concluded, however, that it had little influence on what the “Lethal Weapon” actor’s evidence may reveal about his interaction with the masseuse, who will be referred to as Jane Doe #3 during the proceedings.
The 70-year-old Weinstein is accused of sexual battery by restraint against the lady.
After receiving a massage from the woman in May 2010 at a hotel in Beverly Hills, California, according to prosecutors, a nude Weinstein followed her into the bathroom and performed a sexual act on himself.
Mark Werksman, Weinstein’s attorney, urged that Gibson should be questioned regarding his anti-Semitic remarks by stating, “Any evidence of Mr. Gibson’s racism or anti-Semitism would give rise to bias against my client, who challenged him.”
Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez stated that despite the fact that Gibson’s prior remarks were “disgusting,” they were irrelevant to the issue of what he knew about his chat with the masseuse.
In his second trial, Weinstein has pled not guilty and denied any nonconsensual sexual behavior.
The state’s top court has agreed to hear his appeal of a 2020 conviction for rape and sexual assault in New York, for which he is already serving a 23-year term.
Weinstein was hauled to Los Angeles on Monday, October 10 for a trial that began five years after the #MeToo movement was sparked by a series of women’s accounts of his behavior.
The trial is slated to run eight weeks, and the judge and counsel will resume jury selection on Monday, October 17; opening statements will begin on Tuesday, October 24.